The Hudson River School of American Art
Thomas Cole - The Oxbow, 1836
History and Definition of the Hudson River School of American Art
The Hudson River School of American Art is the term applied to 19th century American landscape art. This school of art is heavily influenced by the Romanticism Movement and the landscape painters of the seventeenth century. ‘Hudson River’ refers to the eastern area of the United States that is heavily prevalent in the art work of that period. The Hudson River flows through the Catskills Mountains and empties out at New York City. The nearby Adirondack country side is picturesque and the inspiration for the Hudson River School of American Art. The aim of the Hudson River School of American Art was to discard European influences and develop a unique American approach and style to landscape painting.
The Hudson River School of Art began in 1825. American artists noticed that fellow artist Thomas Cole was using his art to communicate with God by using nature as a primary subject. Other artists began to copy and mimic Cole’s method of bringing the sacred to nature. Publications such as ‘The Crayon’ began publishing landscape paintings with articles by authors who wrote about similar subject matter. Examples of writers associated with the Hudson River School of American Art are: Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Fennimore Cooper.
Hudson River School of American Art paintings are grand in scale and use light to depict sunsets and water. They are quintessentially American in subject. This Hudson River School of American Art style dominated the art scene until after the Civil War.
Artists Associated with the Hudson School of American Art
Thomas Cole - 1801-1848
Frederic Edwin Church - 1826-1900
Albert Bierstadt-1830 - 1902
Doughty, Thomas - 1793 - 1856
Durand, Asher B - 1796 - 1886
Inness, George - 1825 - 1894
Church, Frederic Edwin - 1826 - 1900
Cole, Thomas - 1801 - 1848
Doughty, Thomas - 1793 - 1856
Durand, Asher B - 1796 - 1886
Inness, George - 1825 - 1894
Famous Paintings and Art from the Hudson River School of American Art
- Thomas Cole - The Oxbow, 1836
- Asher Durand - the Panic of 1837 and Kindred Spirits, 1849
- Frederick Kensett - Mount Washington, 1851
- Frederick Edwin Church - Twilight in the Wilderness- 1860
- Thomas Doughty - Ruins in a Landscape, 1828
- George Innes - The Lackawanna Valley- 1855
Museums, Galleries or Exhibitions that Currently Showing Art of Hudson River School Artists
Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, New York.
http://www.metmuseum.org/
New York Historical Society, New York New York
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/
The Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.
http://www.si.edu/
By Melissa Montgomery
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